


Moonless Nights

by Branithar



Series: Cold As The Grave [2]
Category: As It Is (Band)
Genre: (i'll put a warning before it happens and make that chapter skippable), Demonic Possession, Demons, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:53:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22955143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Branithar/pseuds/Branithar
Summary: Patty is back in the world of the living and he's having a rough time coping. Plagued by terrifying nightmares, he walks a thin line between putting on a brave face for his loved ones and distancing himself from them so he won't get hurt.
Relationships: Ronnie Ish/Patty Walters
Series: Cold As The Grave [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1649626
Kudos: 2





	1. Coping

Patty sat back and stretched, glancing at the clock on the wall. He liked the low-risk monotony of secretary work, but today he had a late lunch with Talia scheduled. They didn’t hang out nearly enough these days. 

Kim came out of her office, glancing at the clock before coming over to Patty’s desk. “How are you doing, Patty?” she asked, just as she had at least once a week since hiring him. 

“Great!” Patty replied, just as he did every time someone asked. 

“Let me know if you need anything, okay?”

“I will.”

She gave him a last sympathetic-yet-supportive look before heading out. 

Filing away the last of his papers, Patty wondered when it would all stop, when people would decide that his wounds were healed enough to leave him alone, when they’d stop asking thinly veiled questions about his family. What more did they need to know? Sal and John attacked them, they killed Mom and Tabitha, Dad managed to kill them before he died too, Patty, Talia and grandma barely got out with their lives. He really didn’t understand where the fuel to keep gossiping about it came from. 

Closing up behind him, Patty headed out, his coat drawn tight against the chill wind. Magnolia’s, his favourite diner from before he died, was just down the road. It felt weird to go there without Mom and Dad, but something about hanging out with Talia there felt grounding, like some things were still okay. 

By the time Patty got there, Talia was already waiting at their favourite table. 

She threw him a small smile as he sat down. “What’s up?”

Patty shrugged. “Stuff.” 

They ordered their food, sitting in silence as they waited for it. 

“Thanks, Mag,” Patty said as she set their plates down.

Mag smiled back at him. At least _she_ still treated them the same way after seven years. 

“How’s grandma?” Patty asked Talia. 

“Okay. She gets sad sometimes, but she’s mostly herself again. How’s Ronnie?” 

“He’s been great. Really patient.” 

Talia gave him a mischievous grin. “Patient how?”

“Not like that,” Patty said, rolling his eyes, “I mean, a little like that. I mean, he’s cool with not doing stuff, but that’s not what I was talking about. I just…” He looked at his plate. “I have nightmares.” 

Talia sobered. “Me too.”

“Bad?”

“Sometimes. Sometimes they’re weird, they have nothing to do with what happened but…they’re scary.” Talia stuck her tongue out at someone sitting at the counter, who quickly turned and pretended they weren’t watching them. “Everyone’s so weird,” she bit. 

“I know. You’d think they’d have found something new to talk about by now.” 

Talia looked back at her half-empty plate. “Nobody knows how long we were gone. They all think Mom and Dad died last year.” She flicked a piece of pie over with her fork. “They all assume we’ve been around this whole time. Nobody’s even noticed that they stopped seeing us around seven years ago.”

“Grandma’s spell was pretty strong.”

“I guess.” Talia frowned at Patty. “Are you feeling okay? You look kinda…sick.”

Patty looked out the window. “People keep asking if I’m okay.”

“Me too,” Talia sighed. 

“Remember how they kept telling us to get help at first?” Patty recalled, “Who can we even talk to without sounding crazy?”

“Ronnie,” Talia suggested, “Foley, Ali. Ben and Kat.”

“Oh, that reminds me. Ben and Kat wanna have us all over for dinner sometime. Would you wanna go?”

Talia nodded. “They’re cool. Grandma loves Kat.” 

“Cool.”

Patty’s phone buzzed. 

“Ronnie’s on his way to pick me up,” he told Talia as he stood, “See ya soon?”

“Yeah,” Talia agreed, standing to hug him, “Love you.”

“Love you too.”


	2. Lingering

_Patty opened his eyes to see that he was still at Magnolia’s, Talia idly playing with her food. At first he thought he’d dozed off, but cold realisation sank in when he found that he couldn’t move anything other than his eyes._

_”It’s been a while since we’ve seen this one, huh?” Talia commented._

_No. Not Talia. Xokath. And this wasn’t Magnolia’s._

_The demon wearing his little sister’s face bit into a piece of pie, eyeing Patty. “I feel like you try to keep me and your friends separate.” It gestured between itself and him. “Are you ashamed of us?”_

_Patty didn’t reply. What was the point? Stalling never helped._

_”Sometimes I feel like you’re not very enthusiastic about your end of the deal.”_

_”I already did my part,” Patty finally said, “Seven souls, just like I promised.”_

_Xokath slammed its fork down on Patty’s hand where it rested on the table, making him cry out in shock. “But you could be more into this,” it contended, wriggling the fork to force the tines deeper into Patty’s flesh._

_”Fuck you,” Patty gasped._

_Xokath grinned. “That’s more like it.”_


End file.
